Japan Copper Industry Try to Adjust to Much Lower Price

Japanese copper industry interests try to find the market move just after Nippon Mining & Metals reduced the official copper ingot price by 120,000 yen per tonne on Friday. The scrap dealers have trouble to adjust the much lower price when the monthly average ingot price is 910,400 yen per tonne for August. Nippon Shindo and Sambo Copper Alloy increased the copper scrap purchase price by 15 yen per kilogram on Monday after they reduced the turning scrap purchase price by 63 yen. The dealers cannot find if the trend is up or down. Copper scrap dealers experienced very calm market when buyers watch the condition. The sellers also try to find the move when they have higher priced inventory. Some dealers expect Chinese buyers could resume the appetite for Japanese copper scrap due to the sharp drop while others see Chinese buyers will wait to purchase until the price decrease more. Rolled copper market price is flat around Tokyo. A dealer said they have to reduce the selling price by 60-70 yen per kg in near term though some dealers try to keep the price in the week. They could make loss when they have inventory, some of which is based on high copper price in May and June. Electric wire dealers try to increase the sales margin to the buyer of direct selling dealers to electric insulation work suppliers. Electric wire dealers try to cover the loss when they reduce the reselling price based on 850,000 yen per tonne level of copper ingot price from 950,000 yen base for higher valued inventory.